Apparatus for drying bowling pins



April 16, 1957 J. LONDON APPARATUS FOR DRYING BOWLING PINS 2 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Jan. 29, 1954 4 INVEMEA Lon/o 0A) JACK HTTORIYEYI April 16, 1957 J. LONDON APPARATUS FOR DRYING BOWLING PINS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 29; 1954 INVENTOR. J4 Q( L QVD United States Patent APPARATUS FOR DRYING BOWLING PINS Jack London, Detroit, Mich.

Application January 29, 1954, SerialNo. 407,001

1 Claim. (Cl. 34-407) This invention relates to apparatus for drying bowling p ns.

"It is the object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus for dipping-bowling pinsin paint, enamel orvarni sh.

'It'is thefurther object of the present invention to provide a novel draining and drying apparatus, whereby the dipped bowlingpinsmay be supported in an upright position 'duringdraining and drying of the paint or lacquer.

It is the further object of thepresent invention to provide a novel supporting rack for the bowling pins to facilitate dippingihereof and to prevent the accumulation of paint upon the bottom of the pin or upon the closely adjacent annular portion of the pin adjacentthe bottom.

It is the further object of the present invention to provide a hollow upright draining and drying apparatus whereby the dipped pins and their supporting rack may 'be suspended within an enclosure which is provided with a heating device and means for Circulating air therethrough.

These andother objects will be seen from the following specification and claim, inconjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectionillustrating the position- .ing of pins upon a rackdipped within a paint tank.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevational section of the pin draining and drying apparatus.

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view thereof.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 3,.on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66 of Fig. 3, on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 3, on an enlarged scale.

Fig Q is a side elevational view of a slightly different form of bowling pin mounting rack.

Fig. 10 is a section taken on line 10-10 of,Fi. 9;.and

Fig. 1.1 is a fragmentary elevational section of a slightly different form of pin mountingrack.

It will be understood that the above drawings illustrate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodimentsare contemplated within the scope of the claim hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawings, the bowling pin mounting back includes a novel horizontally disposed base 11, which is preferablymetallic and relatively rigid and whichhas at its opposite ends the upstanding interiorly threaded homes 12.

The upright supporting arms 13 are arranged at opposite endsof base .11, and their ends are threaded as at 14, Fig. 6, into*bosses 12, the upper ends of said support arms having semicircularly shaped hooks 15, whereby the two arms '13 maybe manually grasped for lifting the base 11 'withthe bowlingpins 17 mounted thereon in an upright 'position.

2,788,586 Patented Apr. 16 19.57

Secured upon the base v11 inlongitudinally spaced relation, are a plurality of bowling pin supports 16, whichare cup-shaped and which are adapted to snugly and cooperatively receive the lower ends of the bowling pins 17, and which protectively surround the lower annular portion of the bowling pin to prevent the accumulation of paint thereon, as Well as upon the bottom of thepin, in the manner hereafter set forth. Hold-down barltl is parallel to base 11 and atits ends is vertically apertured to loosely receive arms or rods 13. Bosses 9 secured to the ends of bar 10 also receive arms .13.and carry set screws 8 which cooperatively engage said arms to secure bar 10 in vertically adjusted position.

Shafts 7 are secured to and depend from bar 10 and their lower pointed endsaxially engage the top of bowling pins 17 for securing the same upon base 11 for preventing accidental dislodgment.

While the supports .16 maybe formed as an integral part of base 11, in the present embodiment of the invention, the supports 16 are separately formed and have depending threaded shanks 18 which threadedly engages within threaded openings in the top surface of rack 11. Each of the cups 16 has a central upstanding pin 19 adapted to supportingly project within a corresponding axial recess formed Within the lower end of the bowling pin, to thereby maintain the bowling pins in theupright position shown.

The sides of the rack 11 are downwardly and inwardly tapered as at 20, to thereby guide the excess paint, enamel or varnish from the dipped bowling pin, so that the same will drip down and collect within a trough 40 positioned within the drying apparatus of Fig. '3, as hereafter 'described.

There is provided a suitable upright tank 21, whichis elongated and which contains the d-esired paint, enamel or varnish into which thepins upon their rack 11 Will'be manually dipped by means of the supporting arms .13.

After dipping, the rack is manually withdrawn and after the excess paint has dropped into thetank 21, the rack is manually transferred into the interior of an upright relatively narrow chambered device, with the hooks 15 removably supported upon the horizontally disposed rods '38 or 39, asshown in Fig. 3.

The chambered member includes the upright narrow rear wall '23, the upright parallel spaced side walls 24 and 25, and the top and bottom walls (26 and 27. Upon one end of the housing is provided an upright relatively narrow door 28, which is hinged to the housing at 29 and has a handle 30. By this construction, .the bowling pin mounting rack or racks may be supportably suspended Wltl'llll the drying housing and completely enclosed to prevent the introduction .of noxious fumes into the room.

For this purpose, there .is provided an outlet pipe '31, which at one end is adapted for communication with the outside atmosphere and at its other end communicates with the interior of the drying housing at its lower end, and has anexhaust fan 32 therein, whereby vapors and fumes may be withdrawn from the housing directly to the outside air.

There is also provided at the upperportion of the housing, a chambered member 33 in communication with the interior of the housing, and which includes an airinlet as well as a suitable heater 3 5, Wher-ebyheated air may be directed through the. interior of the housing.

As shown in Fig. 8, there is mounted upon the wall 24 of said housing a horizontally disposed bracketflfi secured thereto at 35 and having a semi-circular cradle 37 at its outer end to supportably receive the horizontal rod 38. The opposite end of said rod extends through rear wall 23 and is bolted thereto as at 38. h t I Spaced below rod 38 is a secondhorizontally. extending rod 39 within the chambered housing, with one end'of 3 said rod mounted within a corresponding hook or cradle 37 of a second horizontally disposed bracket 35 which projects inwardly of housing wall 24 and is secured thereto as at 36. The opposite end of rod 39 extends through an aperture in housing wall 23 and is bolted thereto as at 39.

The rack shown in Fig. l, which supports the bowling pins 17, after dipping within the tank 21 is manually transported in a horizontally position, and positioned within the chambered drying housing of Fig. 3, with the respective hooks for said rack supportably positioned over rod 38. For illustration, by this construction the rack is suspended Within the upper portion of the drying housing intermediate its side walls to facilitate drying of the pins.

In the preferred embodiment shown for illustration in the drawings, there is provided a second horizontally disposed rod 39 for suspending a second pin drying rack. It is contemplated that the drying housing may be so constructed as to have -a greater number of such horizontally disposed rods for supporting said racks.

Positioned within said housing and extending throughout the length thereof below rack base 11, is a horizontally extending downwardly slanting trough 40 adapted to collect varnish or lacquer which may drip downwardly from base 11. Bracket elements 41 project upwardly from opposite sides of said trough and at its opposite ends for cooperative engagement with the interior of housing walls 24 and 25, and are secured thereto by the fasteners 42.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, there is provided a second downwardly slanting trough 43 spaced below the second rack base 11 and extending throughout the depth of said housing for collecting dripping paint. This trough also has upwardly extending bracket elements 44 at its opposite ends and upon its opposite sides cooper-able with the interior of walls 24 and 25 and secured thereto by the fasteners 45.

Each of the troughs 4t) and 43 have upright end walls 46 at their opposite ends for retaining any collected paint or lacquer within the corresponding trough, and each has an outlet pipe 6 with hand-valve 5.

The cups 16 upon the rack base 11 are adapted for properly spacing the pins 17 and for supporting the same 7 in an upright position, and against accidental dislodgment.

For this purpose, there is additionally provided the upwardly projecting pins 19 which are received within axial recesses at the bottom ends of the bowling pins.

The cups 16 perform still another function in efiectively masking and protecting the bottom of the pin and the closely adjacent annular portion thereof from the accumulation thereon of paint and varnish.

Heretofore, there has always been the problem in dipping bowling pins of preventing the accumulation of paint over these portions of the bowling pin.

Heretofore, such paint had to be removed by scraping or turning on a lathe. This resulted in additional unnecessary labor and expense and also had the disadvantage 'that sometimes the pin itself would be cut in such a fashion as to reduce the over-all length of the pin below a standard length, or otherwise resulted in an uneven bottom surface. Therefore, it is contemplated that the cup 16 snugly receive the lower end portions of the bowling pins 17 so as to eifectively mask such portions, as well as the bottom of the bowling pin to prevent such undesirable accumulation of paint or lacquer.

In view of the noxious nature of the fumes which arise during the drying of such bowling pins, particularly upon the application of heat, provision must be made for the exhausting of such fumes to the outside atmosphere, unless the entire drying cabinet is already upon the outside, such as upon the roof of a building or elsewhere.

The exhaust fan 32 within the outlet pipe 31 and operating in conjunction with the air inlet pipe 33 and baffle 4, provides for the effective continuous circulation of air through the chambered housing and speeds up the drying of the painted or lacquered pins.

A suitable heater 34 within air intake 33 is adapted to heat the air which is circulated. Thus, there is provided a very efficient pin drying apparatus.

Fig. 9 illustrates a slightly different form of bowling pin mounting rack similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and which includes an elongated base 47 with down-wardly and inwardly converging side walls similar to the formation of base 11, Fig. 5. Mounted upon said base the same as in Fig. l, are a series of longitudinally spaced cups 16 adapted to snugly and supportably receive the ends of bowling pins 17.

Bosses 48 at the opposite ends of base 47 have secured therein the lower ends of the supporting rods or arms 49, whose upper ends have hook formations 50.

:Instead of the hold-down bar 10 of Fig. 1, there is provided the apertured blocks 51 slidably mounted on arms 49 and spanning said blocks are a pair of horizontally disposed and spaced bars 52 and 53 whose respective ends extend into the blocks.

Mounted upon the rods 52 and 53 are a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of opposing inwardly directed U- shaped clips 54 having portions 55 extending therefrom, which cooperatively engage opposite sides of the bowling pin 17 at its neck for securing the same in position and maintaining them within the rack.

A slight variation of rack construction is shown in Fig. 1 1, which omits the cups 16. The rack includes a base 56 with elongated downwardly and inwardly tapered side walls 57 in Fig. 11, and mounted upon the base in longitudinally spaced relation are a plurality of upright pins 58.

These pins are adapted to extend up into the axial recesses in the lower ends of the bowling pins 17 for securing the pins against lateral dislodgment.

It will be noted that the width of the base 56 at its pin engaging surface 59 corresponds to the diameter of the bowling pin at its bottom. This arrangement is such as it permits excess paint or lacquer to roll down the sides of the pin and along the tapered walls 57 of the base.

The base 56 is supported at its opposite ends by a pair of upright arms 61, one of which is shown in Fig. 11, in the same manner as the arms 13 of Fig. 1.

There is also provided a suitable hold-down bar 60 similar to hold-down bar 10 of Fig. 11, which carries the bosses 63 at its opposite ends, which also receive arms 61. Set screws 64 in the said bosses are adapted to secure hold-down bar 60 in the desired vertically adjusted position.

A plurality of upright pins 65 are arranged in longitudinally spaced relation similar to pins 7 of Fig. 1, which pins are secured to and depend from bar 60 with their lower pointed ends 66 axially and retainingly engaging the upper ends of bowling pins 17 for securing the same against accidental dislodgment.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the claim which follows for determining the scope thereof.

I claim:

In a drying apparatus, a narrow upright chambered member open at one upright end and having front and rear walls and an upright end wall, a door closing said open end, a pair of transverse horizontally disposed vertically spaced brackets secured at their one ends to one of said front and rear walls adjacent the open end 'of said chambered member, hooks on said brackets intermediate said front and rear walls, a pair of longitudinal vertically spaced rods intermediate said front and rear walls secured at their one ends to said end Wall and at their other ends supportably nested within said hooks respectively, said rods being adapted to slidably support a pair of vertically spaced drying racks, a pair of horizontally disposed troughs of U-shape in longitudinal and cross section respectively spaced below said rods a distance as to be arranged below said racks respectively, said from said end wall to said open end, being inclined downwardly slightly towards said open end to facilitate the collection of liquid dripping from objects supported upon said racks, bracket elements upon the opposite sides of said troughs at their opposite ends secured to portions of said front and rear walls, a horizontally disposed exhaust conduit joined to the lower portion of said chamber member and projecting outwardly adapted for communication with the outside atmosphere, an exhaust fan within said conduit, an air intake conduit at the top of said chambered member projecting upwardly thereof, a heater in this conduit, and a baflle projecting inwardly and downwardly from an interior wall spaced directly below said air inlet conduit laterally deflecting incoming fresh air whereby said air is continuously circulated through said chamber 15 member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Weissenborn Sept. 13, 1892 Keller Sept. 12, 1893 Schools Apr. 5, 1904 Kee July 1, 1924 Johnston Nov. 4, 1924 White Dec. 8, 1925 Hartsook Sept. 7, 1926 Judelson Jan. 29, 1929 Billingsley Nov. 9, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS France Sept. 2, 1946 

